bluecarbonfiber

they should of done it no question to begin with.. if you dont mind me asking how much was that nice peice of hardware? im in a toss up between a new still camera or a hd cam corder

minkl81

iTrader: (2)

get dslr first

minkl81

iTrader: (2)

See the difference?



vs.




----------------------------

also got alignment done yesterday. -1 front and -2.5 rear.

after the alignment, driving characteristic changed dramatically. it drives, handles, and rides far better than before. and front fender rubbing is reduced even though front went from -2 to -1. this new alignment feels like i've got a ecu tune or something. never felt this kind of dramatic change with just an alignment.

but one downturn with this camber setup.. front tires poke out even more and they don't look that great visually and now i'm thinking to change the front tire size to 215/45/17 and stretch the tires a bit

clee109

Umm I am not entirely sure, one of the exec admins negotiated it using the corporate office depot account, I didn't see the receipt. For sure a DSLR will take amazing pics. We have an HD Camcorder and we still used my DSLR (and now prolly the new one even more) and our point and shoot more than the camcorder.

Min - Is tire stretch legit in Portland with wet roads and such? No wheel/tire separation issues? I don't know anything about it, just always look sketch when I see it done

minkl81

iTrader: (2)

i think little bit of a stretch won't be much of a issue

215/45/17 tires of 17x9 wheels







http://www.rimtuck.com/thumbnails.ph...&sidewallf=45&

clee109

Yeah, that's not a whole lot. Do your fronts rub on the fender or on the liner? You'll have to go lower after the stretch

minkl81

iTrader: (2)

fender liner was rubbing before the alignment (little more than -2 camber)
now fender is rubbing after the alignment (-1 camber)

if i go 215/25/17, i can definitely go lower without rubbing. i kinda don't like the look of front right now because its sitting little higher than the rear while tires poking out of fenders..

gonna stop by at the america's tires today and see if they have cheap all seasons in 215/45/17..

bluecarbonfiber

alittle stretch will look good.. i plan to lower mine a hair today or tomorrow

ABP1TSX

Nice to hear u upgraded on the camera. Very nice camera indeed. Anyhow, maybe its just me but i always thought the super stretched tire look is rediculous. A proper sized rim/tires/offset with fenders rolled looks tons better then fitting an obsurdly wide rim and then stretching the tires to make it fit.

minkl81

iTrader: (2)

super stretch don't look that great and i don't feel much safe about it..



------------------------------------------------

with 215/45, i can go lower on the front without rubbing but have few downturns...

1. sumitomo htr+ tires that i have now is discontinued.. so will have to settle for mix match front to rear.

2. staggered tire setup.. not much fan of running wider rear, narrow front.

3. after lowering it little more, camber will be off again. it won't be much but still it'll require another alignment.


good thing is discount tires have kumho ast's in stock for only $69 each right now. this is alot cheaper than $82 each plus shipping from tirerack.

clee109

I have to agree, absurd stretch that leaves your wheels looking like coke can lids is pretty ugly, probably unsafe, and looks like curbing your wheels would be even easier.

I think just a very little stretch to sit the front down a bit is acceptable and would look good. Kinda like Kyle and his old TL when he had stance but it wasn't absurd, just fresh looking.

Brandon, what's this "hair" talk, I thought you were gonna tuck and what not lol...

minkl81

iTrader: (2)

Guess what... i had enough headache on this stance issue so i stopped by Discount Tires on 185th today... Bravely walked up to the counter and requested Kumho AST's.. But they were out of stock.. So asked for next up Barum Tires ($85ea) and they were out too. So they got me Falken ze512's for $85ea

Result was more stretch than what I expected from the pictures above so I asked them why and they said Falkens look more stretched compared to other brands in same size. Also he said he have seen/done numerous extremely stretched tires and my stretch on 17x9 wheel was very minimal and totally safe to drive around normally. Anyways here's pics..


For a better comparo, I took pics on the same spot as before

Before (No sideskirts & Front: Sumitomo HTR+ 235/40/17)



After (Sideskirts & Front: Falken ze512 215/45/17)



Falken ZE512 215/45/17












Wheel: ROTA P45R 17x9 +12offset
F: Falken ze512 215/45/17
R: Sumitomo HTR+ 235/40/17

Kyanite

I'm personally a fan of stretched tires. The 240 looks really good! Tires look shiny.

Yes what Clee said is all true cept the "ugly" part

This is a 215/40 on my 18x8.5's.. It's got a nice stretch, IMO. I'm still looking into coilovers, which I shoulda done before getting wheels I think, cuz now I got an even bigger wheel gap than the stockers with 18's cuz of the low pros. Lol.

bluecarbonfiber

Min... the tires look good on there what do you think of the handling so far? i have the falken 452s on mine and love them compaired to the toyo4s

is it me or the tries in the front have more stretch then in the rear??


finished lowering the car alittle more.. now im at 1 finger gap all around.. i will post some pics up later

minkl81

iTrader: (2)

handling isn't too bad although 235/40/17 all the way felt more stable around corners.

and...

Wheel: ROTA P45R 17x9 +12offset
FRONT: Falken ze512 215/45/17
REAR: Sumitomo HTR+ 235/40/17

clee109

So I'm watching this nice weather, lamenting that next week will be cold and wet and I thought to myself, we are going to need another Oregon meet soon. When I say Oregon meet I mean all of you, including our non-acura owners.

So throw out dates, I was thinking sometime mid June... Lets keep it to a weekday night other than Friday since we get the best turn out. My suggestion: Wednesday June 16th, 8:00, wash. square again. Easy for everyone to get to, or they have a new Sonic going in on 99W, but that's getting fairly deep for some of us...

bluecarbonfiber

^ that works for me.. either place..

bluecarbonfiber

Before




AFTER

ABP1TSX

Looks good... Im ordering the neuspeed cup kit here soon i hope the setup will get somewhat close to that.


Min, the sales guys is rite about the 512's. I had a set on my rsx and 215's on 7.5" rim still look rounded.

clee109

Thats clean Brandon much better. Approved!

bluecarbonfiber

next up is my carbon fiber project..

I think im gonna try for the spark plug cover first.. epoxy is on order and mold release so hopefully ill have my first one done just in time for the meet

bonknhead

Min, you 240 looks great. The front has a little too much poke for my tastes, but the wheels look great.

Brandon - love the new stance. Looks perfect.

bluecarbonfiber

Thanks!! looks better in person

minkl81

iTrader: (2)

looks much betta now

now order some euroR kit

bluecarbonfiber

Jay-

here are some tl type-s rims

http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/pts/1743974546.html

bluecarbonfiber

slow day... rain bumming us out?

clee109

Siting at web dev confernce at the convention center wathing the rain pour down. Should have brought an umbrella...

minkl81

iTrader: (2)

ebay header and megan racing break shield.
both parts been modified to fit.. but love the change in exhaust tone with the header.
it rumbles more like subies

minkl81

iTrader: (2)

and... advise for you guys..

don't join other car forums when you get new cars...

i was going to swap out old creaky seats on my 240sx with this cheapest sparco seats..

sparco r100 (black with grey stripe) retail $299 each seat






but two days ago, i joined a forum called infinitiscene.com.. its pretty mature forum for infiniti fx and ex.

after absorbing bunch of new things about fx, i came across one of this...



invidia gemini true dual catback system and they come in three different tips
- Titanium burnt single wall tips
- Rolled tips
- Rolled titanium burnt tips





this is a redesigned version of invidia's own q300 system that supposed to be much quieter and retails for $1250 before shipping. well, nice dual system but too expensive.....

yesterday, i stopped by speed concept and asked about this exhaust and dan got me some numbers... ... ... $800 shipped... ... what??

now no seats for my 240sx and officially i'm done with this car till next year.
and same for the fx.. its done for the year once exhaust arrives. reason is i've been funding all these mods thanks to bullish stock market but they are heading south again and i'm depleted

bluecarbonfiber

^ haha ya i give it 2 months and you will have alteast 1 more thing youll pick up.. the exhaust looks great though!! i cant wait to hear that..

the header being an ebay one looks like it has a nice weld job.. hopefully all works out.. i purchased the scion exhaust on ebay and its still going strong.. so i have no complaints about it

minkl81

iTrader: (2)

welds on ebay header was pretty decent. only issue was fitment of egr piping and aiv (emmision control, recirculation) vacuum line bangs steering linkeage when hooked to header.

so in order for them to work out, egr was deleted along with aiv (doesn't do much other than recirc), and two holes for them to hook up to header have been welded up.

also break shield didn't clear the strut bar, so shield has been trimmed down to clear a path for strut bar.

and seriously... last set of mods... greece's financial fuck ups and weak euro is hurting alot right now... plus i'll be spending two weeks out of country around july so gotta save up. even the plane ticket is damn expensive due to vacation season..

sT04Louis

iTrader: (5)

Well ive been MIA for a few days now.

Plan was to go to Coos Bay this weekend, which is looking like it isnt going to happen (weather).

So for the last week I've been thrashing on the rail.

I drained all the fluids and pulled the motor to get to the trans to replace the bearings, only to be told the bearings are fine and it just needed a heavier weight oil.
So I put everything back together to break a stud for the intake manifold...cant get that fucker to EZ out, so i had to take it in to get machined. While i was at a local place i found out they are total sand rail/bug junkies. So i run home and grab my extra heads to get machined. Hopefully that will free up 10-15 HP, and all for only 150$.
Since the main reason i had taken the rail apart was because of the Oil cooler going out, I plumbed in a new external oil cooler.

Well i got the rail all buttoned back up and fired after some wiring love.
New exhaust sounds so good. Almost like a tuned exhaust from a older exotic car. (Ill have to get a video). Welded on some light tabs for my Hella500's and my Rear Dust Light. Also replaced my old shifter since the reverse lock out busted.

Got myself a tank of a trailer too. Ill get pics of it all and update my build thread before too long.

clee109

Min - So after the modifications taken to make the header fit would you have been better to invest in a more expensive but more well engineered header, or was the additional modification still under the price tag of the name brand headers? BTW, next new car for me and I will be staying away from ALL forums related to modding, and if it's the RDX no entry for me into the RDX threads lol. Too much temptation. That FX exhaust is hawt though!

Kyle - Nice new hobby eh? Like cars, but not? lol Now you'll need one of those gas tanks in your truck bed.... Next meet you'll have to bring the buggy!

Brandon - Hows the ride now that you have it all adjusted properly? Wife approve?

minkl81

iTrader: (2)

For ka24de engine, not much choices are available.
1. OBX header. Around $180~200. Same fitment issues with ebay header.
2. Hotshot header. Discontinued.
3. DC Header. Approx $350~400 shipped. Good fitment but too expensive.
4. Ebay Header. Some are copy of OBX, and some are copy of Hotshot. I paid $90 shipped to the door and its a OBX copy.

Since I wasn't going to keep this engine/tranny for very long time, I thought expensive DC header wasn't worth it. Also didn't cost extra to weld up the bung holes. Only issue with EGR delete and AIV delete is DEQ for plate renewal. Some said missing egr and aiv can fail visual test.

And for real.. If you want RDX to stay oem, you should even stay away from acurazine
Or not clicking into that section. But Hondata reflash is a must I think. Along with intake

Invidia usually makes loud systems but their new Gemini series seems very subtle. Pretty fat resonator on each side with individual mufflers. Just hoping that it won't drone too much.

And kyle, you should bring the buggy for our next meet. Make sure to swap tires to slicks so we can have a ride in that thing in the parking lot

bluecarbonfiber

Wife is happy about it... after lowering the backend though i noticed it sunked alittle lower then what i wanted.. so now back to raising it to even it out again



im sure if you deq it they probably will skip over it..

and i concur with the slicks and buggy ride.. it will be like a carnival ride at a meet =)

sT04Louis

iTrader: (5)

Ha ill see about bringing it out. Have to go somewhere other than the Mall.

And as for DEQ, i have never had anyone look at anything other than where my OBD plug is.

clee109

^^^ Yeah would def have to go somewhere else.... but where... hmmm

sT04Louis

iTrader: (5)

Drive your asses to sand lake. Ill go airborne with ya in the rail...make you poo your pants.

minkl81

iTrader: (2)

i received sales event notification from v-leds.com for 20% off all items until Sunday

www.v-leds.com

coupon code: BFD

sT04Louis

iTrader: (5)

No cool lights for the rail